Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T01:56:08.909Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Fast pressure pulses and communication between fish

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

J. A. B. Gray  and
E. J. Denton
J. A. B. Gray
Affiliation:
Marine Biological Association, The Laboratory, Citadel Hill, Plymouth, PL PB
E. J. Denton
Affiliation:
Marine Biological Association, The Laboratory, Citadel Hill, Plymouth, PL PB
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Experiments on herring (Clupea harengus L.), sprat (Sprattus sprattus (L.)) and whiting (Merlangius merlangus (L.)) showed that when these fish make rapid swimming movements, such movements are preceded by fast pressure pulses in the surrounding sea water. Thefirst (a) phases of these pulses had durations of from 1–5 to 3–5 ms. The pulses could be excited in free-swimming fish by both visual and auditory stimuli and the latencies to the latter ranged from 5 to 8–5 ms. Identical pulses could be elicited by giving electrical stimuli to anaesthetized fish; these pulses had latencies from 34 to 7 ms.

The pressure fields around the fish were measured on suspended anaesthetized fish stimulated electrically. At any instant the fields of the fast pulses produced by whiting had the same polarity at all positions round the fish and pressure decayed inversely with the 1–5 powerof distance. The a phase of the fast pulse was usually a decompression.

The fields around a stimulated herring were different. The pressures on both sides oppositethe centre of the fish were of one polarity while those around the head and the tail were of the opposite polarity, the pattern of pressure being symmetrical about the long axis of the fish.In our experiments the a phase opposite the centre of the fish was always a compression. The amplitudes of these pulses declined with distance by the power of 2–5. In all species in our experiments the fast pulses were followed by slower pulses associated with swimming movements; these slower pulses had opposite polarities at corresponding points on the two sides of the fish.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 71 , Issue 1 , February 1991 , pp. 83 - 106
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Batchelor, G.K. 1967. An Introduction to Fluid Dynamics. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Best, A.C.G. & Gray, J.A.B. 1980. Morphology of the utricular recess in the sprat. Journalof the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 60, 703–715.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Best, A.C.G. & Gray,, J.A.B., 1982. Nerve fibre and receptor counts in the sprat utriculus and lateral line. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 62, 201–213.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blaxter, J.H.S., Denton, E.J. – Gray, J.A.B., 1981a. Acousticolateralis system in clupeoid fishes. In Hearing and Sound Communication in Fishes (ed. Tavolga, W.N. et ah), pp. 39–59. NewYork: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blaxter, J.H.S., Gray, J.A.B. & Denton, E.J., 1981b. Sound and startle responses in herring shoals. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 61, 851–869.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blaxter, J.H.S. & Holliday, F.G.T., 1963. The behaviour and physiology of herring and other clupeids. Advances in Marine Biology, 1, 261–410.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buwalda, R.J.A., Schuijf, A. & Hawkins, A.D. 1983. Discrimination by the cod of sounds from opposing directions. Journal of Comparative Physiology, 150(A), 175–184.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chapman, C.J. & Hawkins, A.D. 1973. A field study of hearing in the cod, Gadus morhua L. Journal of Comparative Physiology, 85, 147–167.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chapman, C.J. & Johnstone, A.D.F., 1974. Some auditory discrimination experiments in marinefish. Journal of Experimental Biology, 61, 521–528.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chapman, C.J. & Sand, O. 1974. Field studies of hearing in two species of flat fish, Pleuronectes platessa (L.) and Limanda limanda (L.) (family Pleuronectidae). Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, 47A, 371–385.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dale, T. 1976. The labyrinthine mechanoreceptor organs of the cod, Gadus morhua L. (Teleostei, Gadidae). Norwegian Journal of Zoology, 24, 85–128.Google Scholar
Denton, E.J. & Gray, J.A.B. 1983. Mechanical factors in the excitation of clupeid lateral lines. Proceedings of the Royal Society (B), 218, 1–26.Google ScholarPubMed
Denton, E.J. & Gray, J.A.B. 1988. Mechanical factors in the excitation of the lateral lines of fishes. In Sensory Biology of Aquatic Animals, (ed. Atema, J. et ah) pp. 595–617. NewYork: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Denton, E.J.Gray, J.A.B. & Blaxter, J.H.S., 1979. The mechanics of the clupeid acoustico-lateralis system: frequency responses. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 59, 27–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eaton, R.C.Bombardieri, R.A. & Meyer, D.L., 1977. The Mauthner-initiated startle responsein teleost fish. Journal of Experimental Biology, 66, 65–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Enger, P.S. 1967. Hearing in herring. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, 22, 527–538.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Enger, P.S., Kalmijn, A.J. & Sand, O., 1989. Behavioural investigations on the functions of the lateral line and inner ear in predation. In The Mechanosensory Lateral Line: Neurobiology and Evolution (ed. Coombs, S et al.), pp. 575–587. New York: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fay, R.R., 1978. Sound detection and sensory coding by the auditory system of fishes. In The Behaviour of Fish and Other Aquatic Animals (ed. Mostofsky, D.I.), pp. 197–231. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Fay, R.R., 1984. The goldfish ear codes the axis of acoustic particle motion in three dimensions. Science, New York, 225, 951–954.Google ScholarPubMed
Gray, J.A.B., 1984. Interaction of sound pressure and particle acceleration in the excitation of lateral-line neuromasts of sprats. Proceedings of the Royal Society (B), 220, 299–325.Google Scholar
Gray, J.A.B. & Denton, E.J., 1979. The mechanics of the clupeid acoustico-lateralis system: lowfrequency measurements. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 59, 11–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, G.G., 1964. Considerations on the the physics of sound production by fishes. In Marine Bio-acoustics (ed. Tavolga, W.N.), pp. 233–247. Oxford: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Hawkins, A.D., 1981. The hearing abilities of fish. In Hearing and Sound Communication in Fishes (ed. Tavolga, W. N. et al.), pp. 109–133. New York: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hawkins, A.D. & Homer, K., 1981. Directional characteristics of primary auditory neurones from the cod ear. In Hearing and Sound Communication in Fishes (ed. Tavolga, W.N. et ah), pp. 311–328. New York: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kalmijn, A.J., 1988. Hydrodynamics and acousticfield detection. In Sensory Biology of Aquatic Animals (ed. Atema, J. et al.), pp. 83–130. New York: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lowenstein, O. & Wersall, J., 1959. A functional interpretation of the electron-microscopicstructure of the sensory hairs of the cristae of the elasmobranch Raja clavata in terms of directional sensitivity. Nature, London, 184, 1807–1808.Google Scholar
Moulton, J.M., 1960. Swimming sounds and the schooling of fish. Biological Bulletin. Marine Bio-logical Laboratory, Woods Hole, Mass., 119, 210–223.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Netten, S.M Van. & Kroese, A.B.A., 1987. Laser interferometric measurements on the dynamic behaviour of the cupula of the fish lateral line. Hearing Research, 29, 55–61.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Netten, S.M van. & Kroese, A.B.A., 1989. Dynamic behaviour and micromechanical properties of the cupula. In The Mechanosensory Lateral Line: Neurobiology and Evolution (ed. Coombs, S. et al.,) pp. 247–263. New York: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Partridge, B.L., 1981. Lateral line function and the internal dynamic of fish schools. In Hearing and Sound Communication in Fishes (ed. Tavolga, W.N. et ah) pp. 515–521. New York: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Partridge, B.L. & Pitcher, T.J., 1980. The sensory basis of fish schools: relative roles oflateral line and vision. Journal of Comparative Physiology, 135, 315–325.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pitcher, T.J., Partridge, B.L. & Wardle, C.S., 1976. A blind fish can school. Science, New York, 194, 963–965.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Popper, A.N. & Fay, R.R. 1973. Sound detection and processing by teleost fishes: a criticalreview. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 53, 1515–1529.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Popper, A.N. & Platt, C 1979. The herring ear has a unique receptor pattern. Nature, London, 280, 832–833.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sand, O., 1981. The lateral line and sound reception. In Hearing and Sound Communication in Fishes (ed. Tavolga, W.N. et al.) pp. 459–480. NewYork: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sand, O. & Enger, P.S., 1973. Evidence for an auditory function of the swimbladder in the cod. Journal of Experimental Biology, 59, 405–414.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schuijf, A., 1981. Models of acoustic localization. In Hearing and Sound Communication in Fishes (ed. Tavolga, W.N. et al.) pp. 267–310, New York: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schuijf, A. & Hawkins, A.D., 1983. Acoustic distance discrimination by the cod. Nature, London, 302, 143–144.CrossRefGoogle Scholar